RSS Feed
Author Archive
Permafrost holds key to release of trapped carbon
Posted by Daily Climate: Tim Radford on April 15th, 2015
Daily Climate: Three sets of scientists in the same week have helped narrow the uncertainties about how the natural world will respond to extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon locked in the frozen earth will escape gradually as the Arctic permafrost melts – but the scientists say the process could accelerate. As greenhouse gas levels soar, and soils warm, and plant roots tap down into the carbon stored there by centuries of ancient growth, they will release potent...
Posted in 
New mindset needed to handle wildfire hazard
Posted by Daily Climate: Tim Radford on November 6th, 2014
Daily Climate: Towns, rural settlements and even whole societies will become increasingly vulnerable to catastrophic losses unless people learn to live with wildfire, rather than try to fight it.
But Max Moritz, of the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley, and research colleagues from the US and Australia report in Nature journal that they also found evidence from three continents suggesting that government policies can make things worse.
Fire-fighting strategies and land-use...